Born in New York, this is where Jerry lived-out the first half of his prolific art career. The superficial post-Andy Warhol-Soho-art-scene in the late ’70s repelled him. Yet his own obsession with art rang false as well.

In 1979, after days of fasting and realizing his limits as a studio painter, he destroyed his large body of art, gave away his possessions, and trusted the spirit of creativity itself to carry his life. He threw himself out into the world, penniless and homeless, for nearly fifteen years. And as he discovered, unseen hands carried his life.

He eventually found a home again, on Whidbey Island, WA, which offered an extensive creative community. Here he met his wife-to-be, Marilyn Strong. Beyond the gift of their personal relationship, the pair have toured the country with Parabola magazine’s “Cinema of the Spirit” film festival and taught workshops in dreamwork and myth.

Wennstrom began painting again, this time murals on the walls of the tall, 2,000-sq-ft space below the home they shared. He also started crafting large cabinets and sculptures, each exotic and evocative, embodying paradox and metaphorical opposites such as life and death, shadow and light, masculine and feminine.(See art - www.handsofalchemy.com)

In 2000, a Parabola film, In the Hands of Alchemy, was released describing his early painting career, the destruction of his life’s work, the story of his personal transformation, and his eventual return to art. His life of artistic exile was told in his colorful autobiographical book, "The Inspired Heart: An Artist’s Journey of Transformation" from Sentient Publications (2002).

It was around the year 2010 when Wennstrom sensed a new art direction and began carving the "Free-Standing Women" series. The first four in this series, referenced the four elements, then 26 others were to follow, each emerging with a unique theme.

"The Intuitive" was in process in 2020, shortly before the book, A Second Wind: Art Resurrected began. It was not even completed when photographer Andrew van Leeuwen photographed the entirety of Wennstrom’s collection for the book. Regardless of the style, each piece took between 12-18 months to create.

A Second Wind, then, not only fills in details of Wennstrom’s early life, but picks up the story and shows the incredible work that has emerged from the last twenty-five years. This latter work is celebratory in nature, integrating joyful embodiment and revealing the golden thread of a long and magical journey. It is Wennstrom’s magnum opus — his second wind, his life and art resurrected.